The INPI_FR API for trademark search
Access 3.3M Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle records via API. Normalized data, sub-second response, and daily sync — all through Signa's unified trademark API.
Search INPI France in one POST request.
One REST endpoint. Filter by offices: ['INPI_FR'] to scope to ~3.3M INPI France records, or drop the filter to search every office.
Sub-300ms p95 on INPI France queries
Exact, phonetic, fuzzy, and prefix strategies in one request.
Canonical status & raw code preserved
status.primary for filtering, status.raw_code if you need it.
Verifiable freshness
Every record includes updated_at.
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3.3M records
INPI France register indexed and queryable through one endpoint.
Daily sync
Database synced regularly with INPI France's source publication.
100% field accuracy
Validated against INPI France source data across a 3,311,793-field spot-check audit.
Normalized schema
14 raw INPI France status codes mapped to a canonical status object — same shape across every office.
What is INPI France?
The Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI) is France's national industrial property office, a public establishment under the Ministry of the Economy headquartered in Courbevoie just outside Paris. INPI examines and registers French national trademarks, patents, designs, and also operates the French company registry (RNE) — a broader mandate than most national IP offices.
INPI's trademark practice was significantly modernized by the PACTE Law of 2019, which transposed the EU Trademark Directive into French law (Code de la propriété intellectuelle). Since 2020, INPI conducts full opposition examination — previously it only assessed conflict with prior rights on request. The reform also split certification and collective marks into separate categories, lowered filing fees, and introduced a per-class fee structure aligned with the rest of the EU.
INPI publishes trademark data through the "Data INPI" open data initiative — a bulk JSON dump on data.gouv.fr plus an authenticated REST API gateway and weekly FTP deltas in ST.66 v2.00.01 format. The data is real and free, but the access surfaces are uneven: the bulk dump is FR-only with no addresses or attorney records, the REST search endpoint has been intermittently broken in 2026, and the FTP path requires email-issued credentials. Signa ingests all three paths, normalizes the French status labels, decodes the HTML-entity-encoded fields, and exposes the result through the same unified schema as every other office.
Unique features
- Data INPI open data initiative — bulk JSON dump on data.gouv.fr (3.1 GB, no auth) + authenticated REST API + weekly FTP deltas in ST.66 v2.00.01
- PACTE Law 2019 reforms — transposed the EU Trademark Directive, split certification from collective marks, introduced per-class fees
- Full opposition examination since April 2020 — INPI now examines all relative grounds on opposition (previously only conflict with prior rights on request)
- Madrid Protocol member — France can be designated through WIPO's Madrid System, but direct INPI filings also coexist
- French-language register — status codes, mark types, and event labels arrive as HTML-entity-encoded French strings (e.g., "Marque enregistrée") rather than ISO constants
- Multi-mandate office — INPI also handles patents, designs, and the national company registry (RNE), making it broader than USPTO or EUIPO
- BOPI weekly publication — INPI publishes the Bulletin Officiel de la Propriété Industrielle every Friday with the week's new filings and status changes
- Pre-1991 "ancienne loi" cohort — over 670,000 French marks registered under the pre-1991 trademark regime carry no explicit RegistrationDate and require cohort-flag handling
Data INPI (api-gateway.inpi.fr + FTP + data.gouv.fr) vs Signa.
INPI's "Data INPI" platform is genuinely open: a 3.1 GB bulk JSON on data.gouv.fr, an authenticated REST gateway, and weekly FTP deltas. The catch is that those three paths each cover different fields, the status vocabulary is HTML-entity-encoded French, and the /search endpoint has been broken server-side throughout 2026. Here's what changes when you use Signa instead.
| Dimension | Data INPI (api-gateway.inpi.fr + FTP + data.gouv.fr) | Signa |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Register at data.inpi.fr, request API + FTP licences from licences@inpi.fr (email turnaround), set a separate gateway password, then handle XSRF 3-step auth on every call | Sign up, copy API key, curl the endpoint |
| Data shape | Bulk JSON has names but no addresses; FTP ST.66 XML has addresses; REST API has structured events. Status codes arrive as HTML-entity-encoded French labels ("Marque expirée"); 52 event labels including typos and case variants | Normalized JSON with canonical status object, HTML-decoded UTF-8, addresses and SIREN merged from all three paths, unified schema across every office |
| Search | POST /search on api-gateway.inpi.fr — the documented endpoint has returned HTTP 500 or 405 throughout 2026 (INPI infrastructure churn); only single-record /notice/FR{N} GETs work reliably | Full-text, fuzzy, phonetic, and image search out of the box — works regardless of INPI gateway uptime |
| Freshness | Bulk JSON refreshed every few months on data.gouv.fr; FTP NEW + UPD ZIPs published every Friday at 02:02 UTC — you write the listing, download, unzip, and per-entry XML parsing pipeline | Pre-ingested by Signa within hours of INPI's Friday BOPI publication; records queryable through the standard API |
| Coverage | France-only via INPI — for EUTM coverage of France, you also wire up EUIPO's eSearch with a different schema and auth flow | INPI + EUIPO + WIPO + 18 other offices through the same endpoint; filter by office or query them all at once |
Data INPI is one of the more open trademark APIs in Europe — INPI deserves credit for shipping bulk JSON without paywalls. The work Signa removes is the schema reconciliation (three paths, different fields each), the French-label normalization, and the fact that the search endpoint hasn't been reliable. If you only need French data and you have engineering time to chase INPI's gateway uptime, Data INPI is workable. Signa exists for the case where you also need EUTM coverage and a unified schema.
INPI_FR API — Frequently asked questions
Everything developers ask before integrating INPI France data
Need something else? See our documentation
INPI France API basics
Coverage & data quirks
Need something else? See our documentation
Ready to search 3.3M INPI France trademarks via API?
Start with 1,000 free INPI France requests/month. 3.3M records indexed, normalized data across 20+ offices through the same endpoint.
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